Overland AI today announced it is the first ground autonomy company to prime a production contract, a huge milestone for both the company and the broader defense market. Overland AI has been awarded a production Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement through the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering’s (OUSW(R&E)) Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, in conjunction with Program Manager Ground Based Air Defense (PM GBAD), U.S. Marine Corps, to produce autonomous ground vehicles in support of the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS). This is the first step toward integrating fully autonomous ground vehicles at scale in USMC programs of record.
“We look forward to incorporating the Overland AI capability into the Marine Corps’ Ground Based Air Defense portfolio,” said Joe Klocek, Program Manager for Ground Based Air Defense, United States Marine Corps. “Pairing the autonomous platforms with our Marine Air Defense Integrated System will greatly extend the operational reach and lethality of our air defense units.”
“We are in the business of achieving firsts in our industry, and Overland AI is proud to be the first ground autonomy company to prime a production contract,” said Byron Boots, co-founder and chief executive officer of Overland AI. “The Marine Corps and OUSW(R&E) have signaled the urgency to field autonomous ground vehicles right now. Overland AI is ready to deliver.”
Until now, unmanned assets have been largely tele-operated and remote-controlled, constraints that limit operators to single-vehicle control and create dependence on communications during operations. The award reflects a broader push inside the Department of War to move proven autonomous systems into programs of record and operational use. PM GBAD is setting the pace, moving past discussion and experimentation to put autonomous capabilities directly into the hands of Marines. This APFIT award builds on Overland AI’s recent work with PM Ground Weapons Systems to integrate autonomy into the ROGUE Fires platform, further deepening the company’s relationship with the Marine Corps.
Overland AI is an American defense technology startup founded in 2022 by Byron Boots, Stephanie Bonk, and Greg Okopal as a spin-out from the University of Washington’s Robot Learning Laboratory. Headquartered in Seattle, the company specializes in developing advanced off-road ground autonomy systems designed to navigate extreme, unmapped, and GPS-denied tactical environments. Backed by approximately $142 million in venture funding from prominent investors like 8VC and Point72 Ventures, Overland AI leverages over a decade of robotics research and its pedigree in the DARPA RACER program. Its core product ecosystem includes OverDrive—a platform-agnostic autonomy software and sensor stack, ULTRA—a fully autonomous, payload-flexible tactical uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV), SPARK—an up-fit kit to retrofit existing manned military fleets, and OverWatch—an intuitive command-and-control software.
